How many references do I need?

There are certain tricky questions I've developed stock answers for.
Questions like, do you write assignments, what's the point of post-modernism and how do I get crime statistics on left-handed burglars called Geoff in the UK?

But the big one is always 'how many references do I need?' The problem with the answer is the problem with the question. How do you quantify enough of anything? Enough to pass? Enough to get an 'A'? The question also presupposes that all references are equally good; they're not. So an assignment with 20 poor references probably won't be marked as highly as an assignment with 12 good quality ones. Put simply, the quantity is secondary, the quality is primary.

For dissertations this 'how many is enough' question is particularly difficult. For undergrads you're partly constrained by your word limit. You couldn't physically fit 300 references into a 6000 word dissertation even if you wanted to.
The best advice I can offer is this; look at how academics write journal articles, look at how they use referencing to construct and support their arguments and look at how often they do this. That should give you a pretty good idea of how often to reference whilst your writing, and in so doing you'll naturally end up with enough academic back up to write a decent piece of work.

A guide to sessions with dissertation supervisors

At present I can summarise the content of my email inbox like this: aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggghhhhh, HEEEEEEEEELLLLPPP, aaaaargggh. This is typically followed by the sound of explosions or crying or wine bottles being opened. Welcome to the sound of final year students having the most enormous meltdown.

Why? Because it's that time of year when dissertation planning tends to reach a peak of anxiety.
My advice is very, very simple. Work through it steadily and you'll be absolutely fine. Don't binge-search because it isn't effective. Instead it leads to frustration and boredom.

You should also be having conversations and discussions with your supervisors by now too.

So here's my advice to get the best from these precious sessions...

1) Go back and read about the major 'isms'. By this I mean feminism, post-modernism, essentialism, functionalism and Marxism. A chapter on each would be fine to refamiliarise yourself with what they say. Alternatively use an online encyclopedia such as Credo to go back to basics. This is the Wikipedia that you can reference.

2) Don't turn up for meetings expecting to be told what to do. It's your dissertation so own it. That means do plenty of prep before you see supervisors and send them things in advance so that they know what's to be discussed.

3) Some supervisors will set deadlines and some won't so you may need to negotiate when things are done. My advice is to set mini-deadlines rather than fixate on the final one. That could take the form of 'this section finished in two weeks' or '500 words written by this date'. It'll take the pressure off as you go along.

4) Remember it's a negotiation. Be diplomatic. Knowing when to be firm and when to concede points comes from a position of knowledge. In other words, read and read and read. It's the only way and there's no short cuts. It's how you win arguments and it's how you write about things that interest you.

5) Finally, think about the methodology in detail. Don't leave it until the end. This is one of those things that drives supervisors crazy so make it clear in meetings that you're thinking about these issues now, because it won't wait until after Christmas.

Hopefully that will help keep you on track.
You know where I am if you need me. Just don't expect me to reply within 10 seconds of reading another message that begins, "aaaargggghhh...heeeeelp....."

Anna's thoughts on dissertation planning

As a visual learner I am constantly having to organise my thoughts! 

Examtime mind maps are an excellent way to elaborate on my understanding. Take a look at my working progress mind map on Social Research Methods, full of all that irritating terminology, but it becomes so much easier once I've visualised it, I can then go on to check it with others and edit whenever I need to, I can also print and put the latest installment into my ARC folder. (Expecting a lot of corrections thrown at me now that I've had the guts to put it out there.) This was a good way to exercise my brain and recheck all my notions in my social research books.

 

https://www.examtime.com/p/1244298-Social-Research-Methods-mind_maps 

 

Alongside that I am communicating with my dissertation supervisor, throwing out my ideas and having them refined and channeled into good old fashioned hard work, but at least I can pat myself on the back!

 

So that's step 2 to for my third and final year of university - what have you done so far?

The do's and don'ts of emailing authors for help and advice.

I get a lot of emails. I mean a lot. Loads.
One rule I've always had is that I answer them in the order they arrive, which means no skipping about to open the ones that look most interesting. So even if I see one from a student which is spelt wrong and contains four words in total I still answer it. But here's the thing - if you send me an email from your smart phone you must put something in the subject box. If you don't, my inbox will think it's spam and I'll probably never see it.

The reason I'm telling you this is because the care you put into your email is important. I don't expect perfect essays, but I do expect something which makes grammatical sense. And if you write a good email to published academics the results can be spectacular which is what this post is about.

Let's say you're a second year who's starting to think about a possible dissertation topic. Your initial searches keep throwing up the same author so you read some of her stuff; it's good, it makes sense and you like it. You also notice that as part of the abstract record on DISCOVER you can see the author's email address. Sometimes it'll be a .ac.uk address if the author works at a UK university. So my advice is email her and ask for advice. She's the expert, she's the person you're going to be quoting so see what else she's got. Sometimes (and this happens every year to a handful of final year students) the author may have good recommendations or even unpublished work they're willing to share.

But the email you write to them is important. Make sure you've read enough of the author's work so you know their stuff a little at least. Why? Because academics are susceptible to flattery just like anyone else. So tell her why you like her stuff. It helps, believe me. Take your time with the email, make sure the spelling and grammar are spot on and then see what happens. If you get a response you can even reference the email in your dissertation. Rather brilliantly it's your name that comes first in the reference so you'll be referencing yourself!

If you don't get a response then you've lost nothing apart from the few minutes writing the email. However, I find that most authors do respond. Researchers and academics want to share, they want their research to be read and referenced. Just don't begin your email to them with 'Deer Sit or Adam, can I nave soms free journal farticles' because I think you'll be waiting a while for a response.

You know where I am if you need me.


 

Hello again to the new Early Years students.

I don't often post to specific groups because it's the blogging equivalent of going to a party populated by fabulous and intelligent people and then only talking to one person all night. So forgive me if you're not an EY student.

I just wanted to welcome you all again properly and remind you that I'll be here most of the summer. So if you do want some more pre-season training you've only to ask.

I may well have mentioned this before but as a first step I'd have an explore on lrweb which are the library web pages covering information and resources.

If (and I know this is an 'if' so big it's probably visible from space) you have some idea of a dissertation topic already, and would like to have a guided tutorial on finding resources to support it then contact me by replying directly to this email. Or you can use my university email which you can see here along with a short description of what I actually do.

And I promise I'll circulate round the party more at the next get together and not stay in the kitchen talking to one person.

For any final year students requiring dissertation support

I fear this is probably a reckless thing to mention at this stage but (here goes...) if you still need a one to one session covering any area of organising or researching your dissertation, now is realistically the latest you can ask. Hopefully, many of you will be handing in within the next fortnight or so.

With that in mind, please contact me now if there's anything realistic and practical I can do to help.

That aside, I wish all of you well who are on the final stretch.
And at this point I'd offer two pieces of advice-
1) Get at least 7 hours sleep a night.
2) Don't forget to eat.

I know, I know...I sound like your dad...again...